Nick testifying before Congress on the need for improved whistleblower protections

Nick Schwellenbach is a freelance investigative journalist and currently is an investigative journalism fellow at the non-profit Center for Public Integrity and American University, where he is obtaining an M.A. in Journalism.

Previously, Nick was an investigator at the non-profit Project On Government Oversight in 2004 through 2008 where he investigated access to information issues and national security-related corruption and waste. He assisted scores of reporters and congressional investigators in dozens of public interest investigations and has testified before Congress on the need for stronger whistleblower protections in order to improve congressional oversight.

Nick on C-Span, discussing the FAA, air safety, the revolving door and whistleblowers

Prior to working at POGO, Nick was a researcher for the university watchdog group, UT Watch, where he promoted greater access to education and was critical of corporate influence in the public research sphere. Nick was also a reporter-researcher for the Nieman Watchdog, a project of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, that seeks to improve the quality of American journalism. He also represented POGO on the Steering Committee of Openthegovernment.org, a coalition of news organizations and non-profits that challenges excessive government secrecy.

Nick’s investigative work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CNN, CBS News, ABCNews.com, the Associated Press and numerous other media outlets. Nick has had articles and opinion pieces and published in news outlets such as the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Houston Chronicle, the Detroit Free Press, the Seattle Times, and the San Diego Union-Tribune.

He earned a B.A. in History with a minor in Economics from the University of Texas-Austin in 2004. He needs to work on his chess game and has been in numerous sailboat-related debacles near Houston, Texas.